Omnium Gatherum #89 Fear and Loathing, Xeniteia and Apoleteia On The Campaign Trail 2024: The Show Must Go On

Howdy, folks!

Welcome once again to the Omnium Gatherum.

Or, if you’re new here, welcome to the Omnium Gatherum.

What a difference even a couple of days is making in this Year of Our Lord 2024 A.D. Gregorian or Julian, 5784 Hebrew, or 1446 Islamic calendar!

As of this writing,, Joseph R. Biden, the 46th president of these United States of America, has officially dropped out of the running for reelection. With Election Day a little more than 100 days from today and his approval, Vice President Kamala Harris will become the Democratic Party nominee for president. That is barring any other developments like a floor fight at the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

I’ve mentioned before being a fan of President Biden as much as being a politics junkie. I find this day to be as sad as it is historic. It is a ignominious way to end his political career and life of public service but the writing was on the wall. Truthfully, to this Democrat, it had been on the wall since 2019 but to publicly admit as such was tantamount to declaring oneself a Republican in all but name as far as the party apparatus and faithful are concerned.

The cat is out of the bag now.

And with it comes the most interesting political days in the history of this country in a long time. Perfect of a politics junkie; I’m not so sure how the days to come will be for many people.

The stepping down from the campaign of the president doesn’t clarify anything. Already the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has called for President Biden to resign from office, based on the logical conclusion that if he’s not fit to seek reelection then he isn’t fit to continue serving in office. By midweek, I’m sure that will become a talking point for the Trump Vance campaign, if not all Republicans. 

And I hope no one in the now Harris campaign expects her to go unquestioned about the president’s condition, what does or did she know, and when did she know it. Her usual poor tell when confronted by uncomfortable questions, that of laughing seemingly in a casual manner, will not serve her at this time. This is a time to be the adult in the room and she’s been nominated, pardon the pun. The laugh usually means she’s being evasive or disingenuous in her answers that follow; review her appearance on Charlemagne tha God’s show as a candidate for perfect examples. Doing so in the days to come will damage her credibility more than Tulsi Gabbard did during that early debate in the 2020 campaign. This is Prime Time and Kamala Harris, like it or not, ready or not, is now her party’s standard bearer. “Heavy is the head…”

In the meantime, these development while dramatic and historic and, for some, hysterical haven’t changed my position on voting in this cycle. Surprising as the stepping down of a president this close to the election is, I wasn’t surprised by it beyond timing. I’ve said as early as 2021, Biden wasn’t quite the man he had been even in the Obama administration and would likely step down to let Harris become president and/or candidate in 2024. Like my predication about political violence in 2020, this one is coming true much later than I thought it would.

For now, the die is cast.

The 2024 Democratic National Convention will either be the anointing of Kamala Harris as candidate for president or a bloodbath of a floor fight leaving whoever comes out of the ordeal bloodied but hopefully hardened enough to face off against Trump/Vance.

Meanwhile the Trump/Vance campaign will have days to weeks of campaigning on Harris’s weaknesses and inexperience, her possible culpability in a(n) (alleged) coverup of the president’s health, her race and racial politics, and calling for the president to resign.

I’ll be watching, fascinated as usual by the process.

And I’m still working on the Watchmen piece.

Until next time, folks!

Namaste, y’all!